Tag Archives: protest

A group from the Miami Workers Center clean up the area around an abandoned bank-owned house, as police officers wait nearby (Photo Courtesy:Miami Workers Group)

It never ceases to amaze me the glaring duality of the world I live in.

I am constantly reminded that we live in world where you and I have to play by one set of rules, yet the vast financial complex that resides on Wall Street isn’t held to even a fraction of those standards.

And what did this group, which included a grandmother and an pregnant woman, encounter when they arrived at that home?

About a half dozen cops, who threatened to arrest any of them if they stepped foot on the Bank Of America-owned property.

The protesters, to their credit, didn’t give up and cleaned up the public areas around the home. Not once was a burglary tool spotted.

The officers watched over these men and women like mother hens as they picked up beer bottles and broken glass, among other fabulous ‘accessories’ the home had accumulated over the last few years. (Bank of America took the home in 2010.)

But when the banks not only trespass, but break into my clients homes? How many police officers can I get on the case? Not a single one. Continue reading→

Long before we knew what an ‘Occupier’ was, Florida foreclosure defense attorney Roy Oppenheim talked about what he called Shay’s Rebellion 2.0 , a silent rebellion across the country of frustrated homeowners railing against the banks.

Well that rebellion is no longer silent. In fact’s it’s a deafening roar.

The stories coming out of these protests are frighteningly similar, residents making every effort to work with the banks, either being denied a chance for a loan modification or given the runaround to the point of utter confusion.

In one case a woman is now paying more in rent in the home she once owned. In yet another Wells Fargo acquired a loan belonging to a woman with cerebral palsy and cancer, yet refused to offer her a modification. In each case protesters stood and called out to the community for support, in some cases disrupting the foreclosure process.

“We don’t know how many homes we saved for one more month during the holiday season,”Occupy Atlanta spokesman Tim Franzen told the Associated Press, he said. “It was kind of a Christmas gift to the people.”

The message was overwhelming and undeniable. The public will no longer stand idly by and let people who have been taken advantage of be cast aside by our country’s financial institutions like a child’s old toy.Continue reading→